HTC Vive Set Up

1. Make sure your room is at least 6'6" x 5', with no more than 16'4" between base stations. Also make sure the ceiling is high enough that you don't hit it when you're gaming.

2. Unpack your base stations and make sure there are two, with two power cables and adapters, two mounting kits, and one sync cable. The base stations will be placed at opposite corners of the room, and most people choose to mount them to the wall – but if you don't want to mount them you can use ¼ -20 UNC threaded mounts as an alternative.

3. Using the mounting hardware, mount the base stations above head height and angled 30-45 degrees down. HTC mentions that you can also try placing the base stations on high bookshelves, though you may experience mixed results with this technique.

4. Plug your base stations into power outlets.

5. Put each base station into syncing mode. To do this, press the mode button on the back of one so it reads "b" on the front, then press the button on the other until it reads "c." It doesn't matter which station is in which mode.

6. The LEDs on the base stations should turn a solid white. If they do not, head to this page and consult the troubleshooting instructions under section 2G.

Installing the headset

1. Make sure you have the headset, link box, USB cable, HDMI cable (or DisplayPort cable for the Vive Pro), and link box power cord.

2. For the HTC Vive, look at the link box and find the side without the orange ports. For the Vive Pro, you'll simply be using the ports on the back of the Link Box.

3. Plug the HDMI cable into the Link Box for the HTC Vive, or the DisplayPort cable for the Vive Pro. Plug the other side of those cables into your computer, ensuring that you plug them into your graphics card's ports.

4. Plug the USB cable into the Link Box, and then into an available port on your computer. The Vive supports USB 2.0+, while the Vive Pro needs a USB 3.0+ port.

5. Plug the power cord into your Link Box, then into a power outlet. After doing this, make sure you don't unplug anything – your computer will be downloading and installing drivers, and unplugging the cables too early could create issues.

6. Connect the headset to the Link Box. For the Vive, this means connecting three cables – USB, HDMI, and Power – into the orange ports. For the Vive Pro, simply plug in the headset's cable to the Link Box. Once plugged in, press the power button on the Link Box, if you have a Vive Pro.

2. In Steam, head to the Library, right click on Steam VR, and press Properties. Select the Betas tab, then, using the drop-down menu, press "Steam VR Beta Update" and wait for it to update.

3. Once updated, launch Steam VR by pressing the VR icon in the top right-hand corner of Steam.

4. Once SteamVR launches, you'll see the state of your system. Green means that everything is working properly. Flashing green means the headset can't see the base stations. Grey means the headset is off.

Connecting the controllers

1. Press the system button on the controllers, which is the bottom button on the front of each controller.

2. The status icons should change to green, indicating that the controllers have paired properly. If the icon remains grey, click on SteamVR menu, then press Settings. Click Devices, then hit the "Pair Controller" button and follow the on-screen instructions.

That's all there is to it. Assuming you've done everything correctly, your headset should be ready to go. You can launch Gravity Sketch from Steam, or from the Dashboard in virtual reality.

Other things you need to know

If everything went according to plan, you should now be enjoying virtual reality – though if you're new to it, there are a few tutorials you can use to get acquainted with the system.

For starters, you may want to run Room Setup by heading to the Steam VR menu and pressing the Room Setup button. After Room Setup, a tutorial will launch teaching you how to use the system.

Apart from that, you'll likely want to adjust the headset with the straps on the headset or the knob on the back of the HTC Vive Pro. Making the headset fit well will ensure that the headset doesn't move around too much while you're gaming, which could interrupt the experience.

You'll also want to adjust the Interpupillary Distance, or IPD, which is the distance between your pupils. The headset has a knob on the bottom right, which you can turn to adjust the IPD to what feels most natural.

Audio is also a little different depending on the headset. The standard Vive features a headphone jack on the back, which you can use to plug in any of your favorite headphones, while the Vive Pro offers built-in headphones.

Once everything is set up, your VR experience should be a good one. HTC is known for its awesome VR headsets, and both the Vive and Vive Pro have a lot to offer.